Hmm, that's the last time I let someone else take the lab notes, Ginny thought as she peered at the paper, trying to decipher the handwriting. She glanced out of the window at the Saturday afternoon sunlight, hoping Harry would be home soon.
"It's probably going to be most of the day," Harry said as he was getting dressed. "Jacob says there are a mountain of applications to sort through from all over the state and even a few from out of state."
"I guess St Ambrose's is getting popular," Ginny said with a grin. "Could it be that word of the hot new Defense teacher is getting around?"
Harry huffed and raised an eyebrow at her. "I'm not going to say you're wrong, and I'm sure the names attached to the scholarship have something to do with it, too."
Ginny patted his arm. "Well, at least you have the chance to thwart Weatherbee in this, right?"
"Right." Harry sighed and tucked his polo shirt into his jeans. "What are your plans for the day?"
"I've got a pile of notes to organize. Exams will be here before I know it."
"Too bad you don't have Hermione here to draw up revision schedules for you."
"I should have had her do that before she left."
"You should have. She would've been delighted." Harry smiled and pulled on his windbreaker. "All right. I'll see you, but probably not until after dark, all right?"
"All right. Have fun!"
Harry snorted and Apparated out of the flat, leaving Ginny to squint at poorly-written notes. She loved Ben dearly, but his handwriting was atrocious.
"Look at this," she said, showing the paper to Stuart who nosed it. "See, you can't make heads or tails out of it either, can you?" She sighed and got up off the bed to heat some water for tea. She had just set the kettle on the burner when she heard a knock on the door.
"Are you expecting anyone? A lady cat maybe?" she asked the cat as she approached the door. He continued to lick his bottom, declining to answer. Ginny opened the door, barely able to contain her gasp of surprise at the sight of Ignatius on her doorstep.
"Good afternoon, Ginny," he said with a big smile that made him look like some sort of predatory animal rather than putting her at ease.
"Good afternoon," she said, keeping one hand on the door.
"Is Harry home?"
"No, he isn't at the moment."
"Ah. I was hoping to get an opportunity to speak to him. Do you know where he's gone?"
"He's at Jacob's. They're sorting through the scholarship applications," she said, chiding herself for not thinking faster a split second later. I should have made something up!
"Ah yes, the memorial scholarship. I have heard that applications are coming in from far and wide. Seems like young Mr Potter's fame is spreading even here." He drew his hand out of his pocket and she saw that gold coin, watching as he began his tricks with it. As he walked it across the backs of his fingers, she heard that odd ringing again.
Forcing her gaze away from it, she looked him in the eye, hoping she had a pleasant expression on her face. "Is there something I can do for you? Would you like to leave a message for Harry?"
"Yes, there is something you can do for me," he said with a grin that made her very glad for the Blood Seal guarding her threshold. He tossed the coin in the air and her eyes went to it, watching as it turned end over end, flashing in the afternoon sunlight.
Ginny felt as if she were holding her breath until a white blur crossed her vision and she saw Stuart plant all four paws in the middle of Ignatius's chest and push away, coming to land on his feet in the middle of the doorway, back arched and tail puffed out.
The afternoon sunlight was like thick honey, making it look like the coin was moving in slow motion. Ginny watched as the coin spun away from Ignatius, the ringing in her ears becoming louder as it landed with a bounce on the hardwood floor of the flat and rolled away underneath the sofa. Time snapped back and she spun around, dropping to her knees to look under the sofa.
"Bloody cat!" Ignatius growled out on the doorstep. "I'll have my coin back, all right?"
"Yes, it's rolled under the sofa. Just a moment," Ginny called, reaching for the coin. She slapped her hand on top of it and froze.
What do we have here? Someone new, someone…young! And powerful! Yes, I can use you…Ginevra. The voice in her mind was that of a man, a man that sounded like he would stop at nothing to get what he wanted and she knew that she was hearing the voice of a man that had been dead for nearly one hundred and fifty years.
No! You will not!
Oh, but I will! I can see there has already been one other here before me, opening the way. Ginny felt like her mind were a stack of index cards being ruthlessly rifled through before being casually tossed aside. She tried not to think of the name, but there it was, swimming to the surface of her memories. Tom! Yes, dear Tom. You told him all of your secrets, didn't you? All about…Harry…yes.
No! Get out! Get out get out get out!
You and I girl, we will be a team to be reckoned with. We will do the things Tom only dreamed of! With my guidance, you will bring me back and I'll be able to finish what I started as I swore with my dying breath! I will erase Richard Langston's betrayal. Jacob Green will be no more and Cornelius Maxwell will rise again!
No! No one uses me!
Ginny came back to herself at the sensation of Stuart head butting her in the cheek with an anxious-sounding meow. Digging deep, she applied her Occlumency training and shut out the horrible voice. Holding the coin with only her thumb and forefinger, she practically flung it at Ignatius who caught it with a visible look of relief.
Summoning up every shred of Gryffindor courage she possessed, Ginny faced Ignatius. "I'll let Harry know you came by. Good afternoon," she said and closed the door firmly in his face, turning her back and collapsing against it, feeling as if her legs had turned to jelly as she slid down and sat down hard on the floor.
Breathing hard, her mind whirled with her discovery of the coin's terrible secret and she felt cold all over, overcome by uncontrollable shaking. Stuart paced in front of her, rubbing his head on her legs, his thunderous purr going full throttle. The whistle of the kettle added to the noise and Ginny shook herself, slowly standing back up, moving in a daze to shut off the burner under the kettle.
That terrible coin. I've got to tell Harry, she thought, wiping a light sheen of sweat from her brow. She looked down at the tattoo on her arm and reached for her wand. "Arcessito," she whispered, focusing on Summoning Harry with the utmost urgency.
"How many more are there to go?" Harry asked, rubbing the bridge of his nose tiredly. He felt like he'd been doing nothing but reading through scholarship application packets for a week solid rather than a few hours.
"I've got ten," said Sheila Watson, one of the board members.
"I have eight left," Jacob yawned, tossing another one onto his reject pile.
"This is my last one," William Moore said, making some notes on the pad of paper next to him.
"And I've got five. All right." Harry sighed and pulled another one over. Vanessa Gonzales, father is Muggle-born…straight A's…excels at Maths, he read, looking over her standardized test scores from the Muggle elementary school she was currently attending. He'd learned that most magical children attended regular elementary schools for the ground work of reading, writing and Maths unless their parents had the time and resources to home school them.
He was deeply immersed in her essay when he felt the Summons. Shit. Urgent, he thought, stuffing down a rising feeling of panic. "Jacob, I just remembered something I said I'd do for Gin today while I was out," he said, setting Vanessa's application aside.
"Oh dear. I don't want to cause you any trouble with her, so I suppose I must excuse you early!" Jacob said cheerfully. "William, since you're done, would you mind finishing up Harry's?"
"Thanks. I've got to get to the shop before it closes," Harry lied, tossing Vanessa's application onto his "accept" pile and grabbing his jacket, tattoo blazing with pain. Not even bothering to leave the drawing room, he Apparated away, breathing a sigh of relief at the abrupt cessation of pain as he appeared in the flat.
A split second later, Ginny's arms were hard around him and her face was buried in his chest, body wracked with sobs. Alarmed, Harry put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her gently away from him, checking for injuries.
"Are you hurt? What happened?" he asked, trying not to sound panicked.
She shook her head and held him close again and he hugged her back, kissing her softly on top of her head as he made calming sounds. Stuart rubbed his body back and forth against their legs as Ginny's sobs gradually wound down. He looked around the flat for an open letter with bad news about her family, but didn't see one. What's got her so upset? Did someone die? Is Ben all right?
"All right?" he said quietly, keeping a tight rein on his own unease as she wiped tears from her face. "What happened?"
"Ignatius showed up here," she said shakily after taking a deep breath.
Harry felt a jolt go through him at her words that almost made the urgent Summons feel like the softest caress. "What? He showed up here? At the door? What did he want?"
"He said he wanted to talk to you, but I don't know what he really wanted." She took another deep breath and looked up at him, her brown eyes puffy and red-rimmed. "Harry, I touched it."
"Touched what?" he asked, a swell of dread filling him.
"That coin," she whispered, eyes haunted. "It's so awful!" She buried her face in his chest again, breathing hard.
"You did what? How? What happened?" He moved her over to the sofa and sat them both down, the cat immediately jumping up in her lap. "Tell me everything," he said, taking her hands in his.
He watched as Ginny visibly gathered herself and took a deep breath. "I was here, working on some notes. I went to put the kettle on and there was a knock at the door. I opened the door, and there he was."
A wave of rage swept through him and he kept his breathing even, not wanting to scare Ginny even worse than she already was. "What did he say?"
"He asked where you were and I said you were at Jacob's. Then he got that coin out and started his tricks with it and I couldn't look away from it. He said there was something I could do for him and the cat…the cat jumped at him and made him drop it. It rolled under the sofa and I went to get it and when I touched it…" she fell silent and Harry put his arm around her, pulling her close.
"Did it hurt you?"
"No, it didn't hurt. It talked to me."
Another shock reverberated through Harry. "What?"
"I heard a voice." Ginny pulled away from him and swiped at her eyes again. "I heard a voice and it…it read my mind, my memories." She looked up at him again, tears spilling over. "Harry, it knew about Tom!"
More sobs wracked her body and Harry held her close, stroking his hand up and down her back as she cried out her panic and fear. Damn you and that diary, Lucius. The gift that keeps on giving. Every instinct he had screamed at him to find Ignatius immediately and end him, but he forced himself to stay on the sofa with Ginny, mastering his emotions.
"And then it said it would use me, guiding me, said I was powerful," she said through hiccups. "Something about revenge on Richard Langston and…"
"And?" Harry prompted quietly.
"And Jacob would be no more and Cornelius would rise again," she finished, taking great gulps of air.
Harry exhaled a long breath. "Are you sure? Cornelius?"
"Yes," she whispered against his chest, sounding a little more in control.
"What happened to the coin?" he asked quietly when she settled down a little more.
"I gave it back to him. I didn't want it in here anymore. I had to use Occlumency to get it out of my head."
"How did you know that would work?"
"I don't know. Just a feeling I had. I gave it back to him and shut the door in his face. Then I Summoned you." She shook her head. "It happened so fast. It seemed like that voice went on for ages, but the kettle hadn't even gone off yet."
Harry rose from the sofa and opened the door, half-expecting Ignatius to still be standing there, utterly relieved when he wasn't. He went down the stairs and glanced in the windows of the Chinese. Everything seemed to be Ignatius-free. Back in the flat, he bent to kiss Ginny. "Come on, get your things together."
"What?"
"We can't stay here. Ignatius knows where we live and I can't have him showing up on you again."
"But, the Blood Seal and Unbreakables," Ginny said, rising from the sofa. She looked lost and confused, causing another hot rush of rage to run through him.
"I'm pretty confident that he wouldn't be able to get in past those himself, but there are still vulnerabilities. And what about going in and out, yeah? I don't need him loitering around the corner, waiting for you or me to walk by." He looked at her and took her hand in his. "Come on, love."
"What about Stuart?" she asked as she slowly started packing up her books and computer.
"He'll come with us. I think he did you a service today," Harry said, looking at the odd-eyed cat. He was sitting calmly on the sofa, tail twitching as he watched.
"Where are we going to go?" She started looking through drawers, pulling things out. "How much should I take?"
"Just things for a few days. We can come back for more if we need to, all right?" Harry took his half-packed go bag out of the closet and added a few more things for work. Turning his attention to his school bag, he made sure he had everything he needed in there, tossing in an extra power cord for the computer. Finished with his packing, he set his bags on the floor next to the door and put together a few essentials for Stuart.
"What about these?" Ginny asked, holding up the vial that contained the tail hair from the water horse and the branch from the cypress tree dryad.
"Those we'll take as well." She nodded and put them away in her first aid kit. Finally, they were ready, the cat stowed away in a carrier Harry had transfigured from a cardboard box.
Ginny stood in the middle of the flat, bags hanging from her shoulders, still looking a little bit lost. "Are we coming back?"
"I don't know, love," Harry said honestly, shouldering his own bags. "I can't have you here alone with that man knowing where we live." She started to tear up again and he stepped toward her, drawing her into an awkward hug. "Hey, it'll be all right. We'll pretend we're on holiday, yeah?"
Ginny nodded and wiped her eyes again. "Well, if we're going on holiday, it better be someplace posh," she said with a brave smile.
"Only the best for you. Come on," he said, holding his hand out to her. Half an hour later, they were setting their things down in their suite at the Fairmont. Ginny opened the cat carrier and Stuart ambled out to investigate his new surroundings, jumping up on the sofa and pressing his face into the pillows.
"Guess we'd better unpack," she sighed, opening their bags and putting things away in the drawers and closet. Harry watched her bustle around, trying to stay busy and keep her mind off of the frightening encounter.
So far he'd managed to keep a lid on his fury, but he felt his grip beginning to fade. Chased from my home. There is going to be hell to pay for this, Ignatius. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, counting down slowly from ten. I need to see Archimedes. I'll send a message and ask him to meet us here.
"Are you all right?" Ginny asked. He opened his eyes to see her concerned look and he smiled.
"Yeah, fine. Are you hungry?" She shrugged and shook her head. "I'll call down to room service and have some sandwich things sent up, all right? And then I'm going to send a message to Archimedes and ask him to meet us here." Ginny nodded and stepped forward, wrapping her arms around him again. They stood quietly in the dim bedroom and he gradually felt some degree of control return. He was still incandescently angry, but he no longer felt like he was going to run out into the City and beat Ignatius within an inch of his life.
Finally, she let him go, kissing him on the cheek. "Send your message. I need to tell him what happened." She disappeared into the en suite, the cat hot on her heels and Harry heard the sound of the shower.
Closing his eyes again, he composed his message to Archimedes. Ginny had a run-in with Ignatius and has some information about the coin. Can you meet with us at the Fairmont in an hour? Suite 604. Patronus on its way, Harry turned his attention to room service and picked up the phone, calling down for a selection of sandwiches and fruit.
Thirty minutes later, Ginny was out of the shower, looking much restored and dressed in flannel pajama bottoms and a tank top. Room service had delivered a tray of cold cuts, cheeses and bread along with a selection of soft drinks. Harry had spent the time running through his yoga practice in an effort to calm down, feeling moderately successful.
"All right?" Ginny asked, curling up on the sofa with Stuart in her lap.
"Yeah, fine. Just going to take a quick shower. Archimedes and Sarah should be here soon." His greyhound had trotted through the door with a message to expect them in an hour as requested.
"Sarah's coming too?"
"Is that all right?" Harry asked, pulling off his shirt, relieved to see Ginny nod.
Dressed again in jeans and a tee shirt, he was putting together a sandwich when he heard a knock on their door. Wand out, Harry peered through the peephole, glad to see Archimedes's familiar face.
"Come in," Harry said, opening the door for the both of them and showing them into the sitting room. Ginny was still curled on the sofa, not looking like she'd moved at all. As soon as she saw Sarah, she stood up and rushed into the older woman's arms, looking like she was holding on for dear life as she sobbed into her shoulder.
Sarah held her, rubbing her back and making soothing sounds as Ginny gradually calmed down. Watching her so visibly upset again only stoked the fury Harry had worked so hard to dampen and he had to turn away. He saw Archimedes watching the women, his face unreadable.
"I'm sorry," Ginny apologized, wiping her face and running her fingers through her hair.
"Don't worry about it," Sarah said kindly, hugging her again. "Why don't we sit down and you can tell us all about what happened?"
Ginny sat down on the sofa, Sarah next to her holding her hand. Feeling a little awkward, Harry sat across from them in one of the armchairs, Archimedes taking the other one. Leaning forward, the ex-Auror smiled at Ginny. "So, I understand you had a visit from Ignatius."
"Yes. Harry was out at Jacob's doing the scholarship applications and I was at home, going through my notes. Finals are coming up," Ginny said quietly, eyes on the floor.
"Did he threaten you?"
"No," she shook her head, still looking at the floor. She took a deep breath and Harry could see her gathering herself. "He asked if Harry was there and I said he wasn't, that he was at Jacob's." She gave a small laugh and looked up at Harry, meeting his eyes. "I told myself that I should have made something up. I would have made a terrible Auror."
"Anyway, I asked if he wanted to leave a message for Harry or if there was anything I could do for him and he said that there was something I could do for him and he had that coin out again, doing those tricks he does." She paused for a moment, a frown of concentration on her face. "I heard a kind of ringing in my ears and I felt kind of strange, like I couldn't look away from it and then the cat…" She looked around for him, seeming relived when she spotted him curled up in a corner.
"What did Stuart do?" Sarah asked quietly when Ginny seemed disinclined to go on.
"I don't know where he came from, but he jumped at Ignatius and knocked the coin out of his hand and made it land in the flat where it rolled away under the sofa."
"Stuart did that?" Archimedes asked, giving the cat an amazed look. "What happened next?"
"Ignatius was yelling about getting his coin back, so I looked for it under the sofa and there it was, so I reached out to grab it and when I touched it, I heard a voice…" Ginny said, her own voice trailing off toward the end.
"A voice?" Archimedes prompted after a few moments of silence.
"Yes, a voice," Ginny said, taking a deep breath. "A man's voice. I have to tell you about…" Her eyes went to Harry's and he nodded.
"Ginny had an experience with one of Voldemort's Horcruxes, a diary kept by Tom Riddle when he was a student at Hogwarts," Harry said quietly, watching as understanding dawned on Archimedes's face.
"So, the voice said that someone had already been inside of my mind once and he knew about…Tom. And that he could use me, to get revenge on Richard Langston somehow after I brought him back," Ginny said, focused on recalling as much as she could. "He said that Jacob would be no more and he would rise again."
"Richard Langston," Archimedes murmured quietly. "Did the voice identify himself?"
"He did. He said he was Cornelius Maxwell."
Archimedes was silent, his face an inscrutable mask as he absorbed the information. Harry got up and brought a can of Coke over to Ginny, kissing the top of her head. "You're certain?" Archimedes asked.
"Yes. He said, 'Jacob Green will be no more and Cornelius Maxwell will rise again.' and before that, something about swearing with his dying breath that he would finish what he started," Ginny said, sounding much more relaxed now that the information was out in the open.
"And that's all?"
"Yes. I used Occlumency to get him out of my mind," she said with a quick look at Harry.
"You taught her?" he asked Harry, who nodded.
"I did. I wanted her to be able to protect herself after we met Ignatius."
"You and those instincts," Archimedes said, shaking his head before falling silent. They sat quietly, Ginny laying her head on Sarah's shoulder as the older woman stroked her hair. "So," Archimedes finally said, "another Horcrux?"
"Maybe, but I don't think so," Harry disagreed. "From the way Gin describes it, the coin seems to have a more active…sentience? Awareness? I've never known a Horcrux to behave that way. This is something different." And vastly more terrifying.
"It's not anything I've ever heard of. He mentioned his dying breath?" Ginny nodded again and Archimedes frowned. "Dying breath," he murmured quietly.
"How long are you staying here?" Sarah asked.
"For a few days, at least. I don't like Ignatius knowing where we live and waiting for me or Gin to leave the flat."
"Do you want me to see if I can get a watcher?" Archimedes asked, looking between Harry and Ginny.
Harry looked at Ginny. She looked a bit calmer now, but still frightened, her eyes a little too big in her face. "Gin, do you want someone to watch the flat?" he asked gently and she shrugged, not meeting his eyes. "No, at least not yet. I'll let you know if we change our minds." Privately, he thought they were done with the little studio flat above the Chinese takeaway. We needed a bigger place anyway.
"What about school and the clinic, Harry?" Ginny said, her voice quiet and small.
Harry sighed and took off his glasses, rubbing the bridge of his nose tiredly. "I've been thinking about that. I can't keep you locked up. Just try to never be alone and stay to public places and if you have to Apparate away in front of Muggles, do it and we'll take care of it, all right?"
"All right," she said with a nod. Harry was already planning on spending a lot of time in the clinic waiting room on her late nights. At least they have WiFi, he thought.
"Archimedes, that Horcrux needs to be destroyed. Ignatius won't stop until he has his hands on it and it sounds like he's being driven by whatever fragment of Cornelius is in that coin," Harry said, fixing the older man with a stern look.
"I'm counting on it," he countered mildly.
"I'm sorry, do you not understand what just happened?" Harry asked, feeling a cold thread of unease uncoil in his gut. "That Gin and I have been chased from our home? That she had some…thing invade her mind and threaten her? Archimedes, do you understand that Gin could be dead right now?"
"I'm sorry that Weatherbee has taken this…extreme action, but we still need to catch him doing something wrong."
Harry forced himself to rein in his anger and fear and speak calmly. "Bring him in on possession of a Dark object."
"And then what? 'Oh, dear, I had no idea this was a Dark object. I thought it was just a simple coin from the Gold Rush era. Here, my good sirs, take it away!'," he said, doing a passable imitation of Weatherbee's posh Mayfair accent. "Harry, listen, if what Ginny says is correct, that spirit has been inhabiting that coin for something like 150 years and undoubtedly has been through many owners." He looked at the both of them again and took a deep breath. "The two of you have been through extraordinary circumstances in your lives that have perhaps made you more sensitive to these sorts of things than the average witch or wizard. I doubt I would be able to tell anything if I were to touch it."
"But—"
"It's no guarantee that the mere possession of that coin would bring him down. He turns it in and goes on his way to possibly gain a position on the council where he continues to poison our community," Archimedes said in a patient tone that forced Harry to listen despite his mounting anger and disbelief. "We need to catch him in the act of getting the Horcrux or trying to use it."
Harry felt a jolt of absolute terror at the thought of Ignatius not only getting a hold of the portrait miniature, but actually trying to use it. Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken, echoed in his mind. "No."
"Harry, we must," Archimedes said gently, reaching out to put a reassuring hand on his arm. "I understand you're afraid for yourself and Ginny, but please understand that this is our best chance of eliminating him as a threat. After all is done, then we'll destroy the portrait and the coin."
"Archimedes, you know as well as I do that it must be destroyed as soon as possible. I'll do it. We can go right now."
"All in good time," Archimedes said, sitting back in the chair.
"If you won't go with me, I'll go myself," Harry said, standing up with the full intention of Apparating to the Japantown location of the regional Auror office and the basement with the terrible object. The look on Archimedes's face brought him up short.
"May I remind you that you are no longer an Auror? That you have no authority here?" he said quietly, an implicit threat underlying his words. "No one will let you into that chamber, Boy Who Lived or not. If you had accepted my invitation a few weeks ago, this conversation might have gone very differently."
Harry stood, fists clenched, so angry he was almost dizzy with the feeling. He could feel his heartbeat pounding in his temples and he struggled to keep himself from leaping at Archimedes. He felt an electricity all through him and knew he was dangerously close to unleashing a blast of uncontrolled magic. Through his anger, he saw the older man was tensed and ready for him, expecting him to make a move and oddly, that helped Harry calm down a little. He glanced at Ginny and saw her looking at him, small and frightened curled up next to Sarah on the sofa.
The rage drained out of him in a rush, leaving him feeling faint and exhausted, his legs shaking. He thought he could smell a faint tinge of ozone in the air. "Thank you for coming at my call. I think it's time for you to go," he said quietly, watching as Sarah whispered in Ginny's ear. Ginny shook her head and Sarah patted her hand before rising to join her husband.
"I'll be in touch," Archimedes said, opening the door to the room.
"Fine."
As soon as the door closed, Harry collapsed into an armchair, holding his head in his hands and trying to sort out his feelings. He felt stung and betrayed that Archimedes would throw his refusal to join the US Aurors in his face like that. I guess I know your true colors now, he thought grimly. He still felt a strong urge to chase down Ignatius pulling at him, but he knew that would be just about the worst thing he could do right now. I can't give him the least little thing to use against me. In his eyes, I'm just a small step above a Muggle-born and he'd use me as an example of how dangerous it is to teach magic to those with 'tainted' blood. If Ron were still here, that man would be a grease spot by now.
As he sat, he felt Ginny's hands in his hair and he looked up. She gave him a hesitant smile and curled up in his lap, laying her head against his chest with her arms wrapped tightly around him. Harry held on tight, resting his chin on top of her head, focusing on the feeling of her safe and sound in his arms. Slowly, the desire to Apparate away into the night and chase down Ignatius settled down from a raging fire to a slow burn, but Harry knew that it wouldn't completely go away until the whole sorry business was done.
"All right?" Ginny whispered, looking up at him and running her thumb over his cheekbone.
"Yeah," he whispered back, kissing her gently. "You?"
Ginny shrugged and lay her head back on his chest. Stuart came nosing around and jumped up in her lap, turning around a few times before settling down. "Do you…" Ginny began after several moments.
Harry waited for her to continue and when she didn't, he prompted her. "Do I what?"
"Do you want to join Archimedes? The Aurors?" she asked, not looking at him.
"No, love. I want to shred Ignatius Weatherbee limb from limb. Being an Auror precludes that a little," he said, trying for a little levity, but he could tell it had fallen flat.
"But Archimedes said…maybe it would be easier for you if you were?"
"It would be easier for Archimedes. Then he could send me after whoever was irritating him that day, same as they did in London," Harry said, thinking back to his last months with the Aurors. The endless requests, special assignments and increased pressure to take risks once Ron had left, all with the dangling promise of future greatness.
"I thought you were going to go after him," she said, breaking the silence.
"I thought I was, too. He was ready for me to. Did I frighten you?"
"A little. You really frightened Sarah."
"I'll have to apologize to her," he sighed, feeling terrible that gentle Sarah had seen that side of him. "What did she say to you before they left?"
"She offered for me to come and stay with them." While not completely unexpected given what she'd seen, Harry still felt a flush of embarrassment.
"Thank you for staying," he whispered, her hair soft against his lips.
"I don't belong anywhere else." She hugged him tighter and he felt some of the anxiety he'd been feeling lessen. While not an actual, conscious thought, he realized he'd been worried that she would want to stay somewhere apart from him in fear of her own safety. "Matthew was right," she said, tracing one finger along a vein in his neck.
Surprised to hear that name, Harry snorted. "About what?"
"You can be one scary bastard."
In spite of himself, Harry smiled. "He said that? When?"
"When I asked him about your little visit."
"Fair enough. I was at least putting some effort into it." He was quiet for a moment, thinking of that evening and the fallout he'd suffered afterward. "Sorry."
"Don't be. That was rude of Archimedes to even say that. Are you quits now?"
"No," Harry said with a long exhale. "As much as I hate to admit it, he has a point. He could easily claim that he had no idea the coin was a Dark object. He could spin it and say that he got it from someone and say that they were trying to undermine his chances or claim entrapment. It's too easy for him to weasel out of." He shook his head and closed his eyes. "We need to give him enough rope to hang himself with."
"I'm worried about Jacob. The voice in the coin said Jacob Green would be no more."
"I think Jacob is safe enough as long as Ignatius doesn't get his hands on that Horcrux. Whatever that coin is, I don't think it's the key." What is that coin? The voice mentioned an oath sworn with his dying breath…I need to find out what that means. Well, I'll have time to go through Dumbledore's books, he thought, visualizing long evenings spent in the uncomfortable waiting room chairs at the clinic, waiting for Ginny.
"Do you think you should say something to him?"
"I've tried warning him off of Ignatius before, but he doesn't listen," Harry said, shaking his head. "I imagine Archimedes will set a watcher on him or have a chat with Evelyn." The mention of the man almost prompted him to send his stag out, but he decided against it. Mutual cooling-off period is in order, I think.
Ginny was quiet again and before too long, Harry could tell she was asleep. He shifted a little bit in the chair, getting more comfortable. He lowered the lights, setting a Cooling Charm on the room service items and took off his glasses, putting them carefully on the arm of the chair before settling his own head back and closing his eyes.
Dying breath…what can a wizard do with his dying breath?
"So what are we doing today?" Ginny asked, popping a strawberry into her mouth. It was a fine spring morning and she and Harry were out on the balcony of their suite having breakfast in the fresh air.
"I don't know. What do you want to do?" Harry asked, stirring his tea. She looked at him, the morning sunlight making highlights in his hair. The memory of waking up in his arms on the armchair in the middle of the night came back to her.
At first, she'd been disoriented by the unfamiliar surroundings, but then she remembered the voice in the coin and she shivered, waking Harry out of what must have been a light doze. Instantly alert, he raised the lights, making her squint at the sudden brightness. "All right?" he asked, putting his glasses back on.
"I'm fine. This can't be too comfortable for you though," she said, shifting around. The cat was still on her lap and he stood up and stretched, arching his back with a huge cat yawn.
"I'm comfortable," Harry insisted, hugging her tighter and kissing her on the temple.
Turning to face him, Ginny ran her palm across his scratchy cheek, taking off his glasses and drawing him toward her for a soft kiss. She still felt rattled over the events of the day, but kissing Harry always made those other things fade to insignificance. In the armchair, they made out like teenagers until her lips felt bruised and his five o'clock shadow had rubbed her face nearly raw. She felt like she'd been transported to her schoolgirl days, sneaking time with her boyfriend, filling the limited time with as much kissing as possible.
She had her hand planted on his chest, feeling his rapid heartbeat echoed in the dizzying pace of her own. "Let's go to bed," she whispered against his lips. Rising from his lap, Ginny bent and kissed him again, nearly ending up back in his lap. Feeling giddy, she disentangled herself from his arms and walked slowly backwards to the bedroom, hoping that she wouldn't bump into the doorway and spoil her seduction.
Watching Harry as he walked toward her, she flashed back to how he'd looked earlier when he'd been so incandescently angry at Archimedes, the barely-leashed power practically crackling around him and making all of the small hairs on her body stand up. She'd been briefly reminded of the way he'd charged the air around him as a mere seventeen-year-old boy, locked in mortal combat with the darkest of the Dark.
"Why do they put so many pillows on the bed?" she asked, throwing one at Harry who dodged it easily, catching her square in the face with one that looked like a Tootsie Roll.
"So we can have a pillow fight?" Somehow, he'd managed to shed his tee shirt and jeans without her noticing, slipping under the covers in his boxers. She got in next to him, nestling her back against his chest, trying to ignore the fact that the bed was too soft and the pillows were all the wrong firmness. Harry's arm was tight against her waist and she heard him let out a shuddering breath.
"What's wrong?" she asked, turning to face him. His eyes were shut tight and he shook his head, turning away from her. Delayed reaction, she thought, pulling him closer. We're safe and now it comes.
"You could have died," he said in a hoarse whisper. "God, Gin, he could have killed you where you stood."
"No, the Blood Seal—"
"It can't stop a curse. If he'd used the Killing Curse…" He closed his eyes again, letting out a low groan and burying his face in her neck. She held him as he fell apart in her arms, harsh sobs wracking his body. Ginny stroked her fingers through his hair, making soothing murmurs as he slowly regained control. Lying flat on his back, he took a deep breath and wiped his eyes, not meeting hers. She quietly got out of bed and brought him a glass of water, using her wand to get rid of the headache she knew he had.
"Better?" she asked, settling down next to him again, resting her head on his shoulder.
"Yeah. Thanks," he said, voice still sounding rough. "Sorry."
"Don't apologize. You held it together while I fell apart." She rested her hand on his stomach, kissing his neck when he put his hand over hers. Turning back onto her side, she pulled Harry to her, secure again with his arm around her waist. "Let's get some rest, okay?"
It seemed as if Harry had other ideas, however, as he slid his hand underneath her tank top to caress her breasts, running his fingers lightly over her warm skin before pulling her firmly against him. His lips were fastened onto her neck, nibbling and sucking, tongue darting out to taste her, whispering disjointed words and phrases in between kisses.
A whirl of desire spun through her, making her stomach tremble and her breathing ragged. Harry chose that moment to fasten his lips onto the nape of her neck and suck hard, bringing forth a gasp at the sharp pain as he marked her. She started to shift around to face him, but he held her still. "No, stay right there," he said, whispered words hot in her ear as he swept his hand down her ribs and over the sensitive skin of her belly, coming to rest on her hip.
Pulling her harder against him, she felt his stiff cock against her bottom and her breath caught in her throat, another burst of heat coming from deep inside of her. Light as a spider, Harry's fingers traced a pattern on her hip as he continued to kiss her neck before slipping under the waistband of her pajama bottoms. "No knickers?" he asked, nibbling on her earlobe.
"Too much of a bother," she said, giving a little gasp when he made contact with her clit, touching her in the exact way she liked best.
"You should not bother more often." He exerted more pressure, sliding his fingers further down to tease at her entrance, making her gasp again and buck her hips, pushing back against him as he pressed his hips into her with a groan.
"Too uncomfortable with trousers," she said, working her pajama bottoms down and kicking them off her feet under the covers.
"True." Harry slipped his arm under her leg, lifting it up to rest on his thigh as he continued his explorations. Ginny closed her eyes, shutting out the foreign surroundings and the reason for them, focusing instead on the sensations of his fingers sliding around and through her wetness as he brought her to shuddering climax.
A moment later, she realized that his boxers were gone and she smiled. "You owe yourself a new pair of boxers," she said, turning her head towards him.
"They were old anyway. Had a hole in the arse," he responded, sighing as he slid into her. They lay still for a moment, Ginny enjoying the feeling of being filled by him in this way. This wasn't a usual thing for them and she remembered the first time they'd tried it, back when they were still learning how their bodies could work together. Nearly fell off the bed.
Unaccustomed to this sort of passivity in their lovemaking, she rocked her hips against Harry's, their movements unhurried, his breath soft and warm against her neck. Wanting to feel more, she took his hand from her hip, guiding him back to her clit and showing him what she wanted him to do until she felt that she would break apart into tiny pieces. As she came, she heard his own breathing change, beginning to catch in little hitches and she reached back, stroking her hand along his flank, feeling the little hairs rising at her touch.
A soft exhalation of her name and she felt him tense and then relax as he finally found his release inside her. Feeling like an owl, she turned her head as far as she could, searching out Harry's mouth for a soft kiss. "Love you so much," he murmured against her lips.
"Love you, too. I'm not going anywhere, all right?" He nodded, kissing her again and hugged her tightly before letting her go. She was very glad to lower her leg and she rubbed it surreptitiously, knowing she'd be a bit sore in the morning. Finally able to turn around, she ran her hands over his neck and chest before kissing him again. Relaxing onto her back, Harry rested his head on her breast and she held him close, stroking his hair until he finally slipped off into sleep.
And now this morning, he seemed to be back to his regular self as he read his usual newspapers and drank tea in the sunlight. She looked out into the City, the view completely different from what she was used to. "Let's get out of town for the day," she said, dipping another strawberry in her yogurt.
"Yeah? Where do you want to go?" Harry set aside his newspaper and looked at her.
"I don't know," she shrugged. "I just don't want to be here today, you know?"
"I do." He sat back in the chair, sipping his tea and looking off into the distance. She finished her yogurt, letting him think until he smiled at her, eyes bright. "I've got it."
"That didn't take very long. Where are we going?" she asked as he bounced out of his seat.
"It's a surprise. Come on, get dressed and pack yourself an overnight."
"Overnight? I thought we were just getting out for the day? We've got school and work tomorrow."
Harry took her hand and pulled her out of her seat. "Love, I promise all will be revealed if you just get dressed and packed, all right?"
"All right," she said, catching some of Harry's excitement as she followed him into the bedroom. A glance at the bed reminded her of their late-night activities. "I still need to shower."
"What are you waiting for?" he asked with a grin as he dropped his trackies, standing completely starkers in front of her.
"Japanese-style then?" she asked, a slow grin spreading across her face.
Good thing the Fairmont has enormous showers, she thought afterward as she looked over the things she'd brought with her after fleeing their flat. "How should I dress?"
"You know what I prefer," Harry said with a wicked grin as he pulled a polo shirt over his head. "I dunno. Let's see, comfortable I guess?"
"Are we going someplace warm?"
"Hmm…bring a jacket, just in case."
"You're being very mysterious, Mr Potter," Ginny said as she pulled on a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved tee shirt.
"It's just part of my charm."
"What about the cat?" she asked, catching sight of Stuart curled up in a chair. She heard Harry rustling around and the sound of far too much kibble being poured into the cat's dish. Stuart perked up and ran over to investigate. Ginny looked at the overflowing dish and frowned. "Harry, he'll get fat."
"Well you don't want him to starve, do you? Come on, it's just overnight. Aren't you ready yet?" he asked, putting out the "Do not disturb" sign and making sure the door to the balcony was secure.
She shook her head at his impatience and picked up her packed bag. "Yes."
"Let's go." He took her hand and Apparated the both of them out of the hotel room without a sound.